The invention relates to a method of producing a liquid enriched with ingredients and active agents of plants using a carrier and storage material for plants and their ingredients.
Methods of producing plant extracts are known, in which it is attempted to obtain the active agents and ingredients by squeezing or centrifuging the plants, preparing a mixture thereof in alcohol, and storing them in liquid form. Known is also the method for drying plants, as used with medicinal herbs and tea. These methods have the disadvantage that only a part of the active substances is bound.
Chemical methods are also known, in Which the active substances are obtained chemically. In these, however, only the desired principal active agent is produced at any time; a mixture such as that occurring in nature is not possible or involves too much outlay.
Moreover, methods are known for producing plant extracts by steam extraction. Thus, for example, 15 liters of tea tree oil are obtained from 6 tons of tea tree leaves. The disadvantages of this method are a very large expenditure of energy for steam generation and a high proportion of residual waste material.
Known is also a filter and carrier material according to the patent application Ser. No. 197 11 809.7. In this, provision is made for the use of the carrier material as a store for medicinal and other therapeutic agents and their use in a gaseous state in suitable and conventional apparatus. A production of liquids from the carrier material was not envisaged. Moreover, it is not known to bind material from plants completely in a filter or carrier material.
It is the object of the invention to develop a low-cost method for producing a liquid enriched with ingredients and active agents of plants, which makes it possible to bind the plants and their active agents in a comminuted form, to store them for a long period of time, and to release them during a mixing with liquids in such manner that their use as a medicinal, cosmetic, therapeutic agent for sports and leisure applications, and also their use as a cleaning agent in households and industry becomes possible.
If used as a glass cleaning agent, the product is intended to produce an anti-glare effect on car windscreens at night. When used for medical or therapeutic applications, the preparations is intended to produce an efficiency better than that of preparations produced by conventional means, because it is successfully possible
1. to preserve the naturally occurring mixture of active substances,
2. to release a high percentage of the active substances to the liquid again, with the carrier material acting simultaneously as both a preserving agent and a catalyst increasing the efficiency of the liquid.
In accordance with the present invention the problem is solved by the provisions that the plants are comminuted by means of cutting tools in such a way that a spinach-like mass is created. Depending on the species of the plants, this mass is mixed with a specific amount of rubber granules either in a pure form or with a mixture of rubber granules and textile components adhering thereto, as this is described in accordance with PA AZ 196 48 551.7 of Jun. 12, 1997, until it can be shaped. Then the resulting mass is dried either mechanically or in air. The resulting carrier material is able to store up to 97 per cent of all the ingredients of the plants, with the possibility to detect a level of 11 to 24 per cent of easily volatile ingredients and the balance of ingredients at a level between 65 and 97 per cent. For an application as intended the carrier material enriched with plants is mixed with a liquid at a specific mixing ratio at a defined temperature for a defined period of time, which is different as a function of the purpose.
The solution so obtained is stable over a long time and is used for different applications in medicine, cosmetics, as therapeutic agent in sports and leisure activities, or as detergent for household, industrial and trade purposes.